Soulblight Gravelords News, Rumours and Speculation

[FeralMulan]

I guess I just kind of hate that the Soulblight start collecting does not include any Vampires... I dunno, feels weird.

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

59 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

Eh...I guess the Wight king has the function of making Grave Guard battleline? That's something. It's a hefty tax for just that but still. 

His warscroll might as well be blank if that's his role. Plus, for me that only works if you run 2+ Grave Guard blocks, otherwise you just grab a unit of direwolves and cover one battleline slot that way.

51 minutes ago, JackStreicher said:

The mounted one is actually fairly okay. I wrote done test lists in which he is good.

What does role does he play in your lists?

3 minutes ago, KriticalKhan said:

People who like the models...?

Kinda sucks that I can't recommend the set for new players who want to start a Deathrattle heavy army, though. With both Black Knights and Wight King being pretty bad, that's just a bit of a trap box if you care about how the models play. At least Grave Guard are good.

[JackStreicher]

Just now, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

What does role does he play in your lists?

Provides GG as Battleline and spreads the Feel no Pain and healing while being durable and able to run down small support heroes

[Izotzuhure]

1 hour ago, Nightseer2012 said:

Hm, interesting thought.  What bodies do you suggest, since the actual Blood Knights are obviously going to be rare for the next few weeks.

I'd probably go with Cold One Knights. 

[Doko]

I gonna get one starter because i was going ti buy 2 graveguards and now i pay the same but i get free two units.

Yes they are useless but free and the wk mounted is a must have to buy even if i never play it because it is pretty

[Angela]

2 hours ago, JackStreicher said:

I only want the Wight king...

I am curious why they throw that many grave guard at us?

I was just about to buy 20 grave guard, so I will buy this kit. I'm thinking of making the black knights into hexwraiths and then allying them in, or just waiting for the first faq, people to start playing (maybe they are better than they sound?), or for 3.0 before deciding to build them.

[CDM]

Have we saw the date the battlerome was made? I really am not being funny and I actually think it looks good bit it does look fairly rushed. Almost like a second stab at it.

I know they use more playtesters now but I would like to see them reach out well in advance for new battletomes. Get an idea of general synergies, how sub factions work etc just so they get some input on the flavour of what the armies will look like on the table. 

Are we going to see a viable deadwalker force led by a  necromancer and generic gravekeepers. A kastelai cavalry force. A death rattle empire led by wight kings. A full vampire army. Are these possible? are they playable?

[Gecktron]

1 hour ago, KriticalKhan said:

People who like the models...?

This ^ 
A large part of the community doesnt care all that much about competitiveness or rules in general. Not to mention people that dont play at all and only collect. 

Also, with 3.0 right around the corner, good and bad units may easily change places in 2-3 months. 

[pixieproxy]

Core battalions may change quite a lot by themselves, honestly, whether or not the warscroll battalions are staying. Especially if they're as generic as "Hero + x Battleline"

[Aren73]

Isn't it a bit early to send feedback? 

We don't even have the book in our hands and yes the leaks are there but from GW's point it's so easy to dismiss feedback on a product that hasn't yet released. 

Don't be over eager, we don't want to make GW think that our complaints aren't valid or well founded. 

I want changes too, the book needs some, I just want the best chance at them. 

[JackStreicher]

For anyone wanting to play the CC Models as seperate units:

Vargskyr : Varghulf Points (same stats) 160

Torgilius:  almost Necromancer points 125

Gorslav: almost Wight king Points 115

Radukar: Vampire Lord +20, pts 160

Vyrkos Bloodborn: 115 points seems plausible 

Korsagi Night Guard: cost as much as 2 Ogor Gluttons, 80 points

Combined: 755 points

 

Edit: Oops, I forgot halgrim

Halgrim: Wight King 115 points

Edited May 16, 2021 by JackStreicher

[Liquidsteel]

I don't think it'd too early, the books are out and reviews from GW approved 3rd parties are up.

Better to get the questions in early, and repeatedly, so they take notice.

[Sception]

So the wight king's temporarily exclusive to a start collecting otherwise full of stuff I don't need?  That's cool, gives me an excuse to skip him for now, which I probably had to do anyway due to phone.  I'll be back for it eventually.

As a start collecting.... I'd call that set better than the discontinued ones, but still not great.  while both black knights and grave guard can be made battleline, neither are by default.  And they're kind of old models at this point.  The same set but with the new skeletons instead might have been better as a start collecting even if it would have been weaker on the table.  20 zombies, a necromancer, & a corpse cart also would have been better.  Something with any vampires in it at all would have been better yet.

Oh, well, though.  Not a terrible kit.  And nice that we don't have to wait ages for the rest of the current release wave.

[Erdemo86]

I really like what saw so far and I think people are over reacting. Yes there are some trash units like black knights. But there are a lot of good ones too. Look at Prince V, Belladama, Blood Knights to name some. I think this army will see a lot of good lists that we will see in some tournaments too. In Moment everything is just theory, nothing else. Yeah it’s not that over the top overpowered like Lumineth. But it’s even not trash like slaanesh or stormcast or some other army’s.It’s a Solid Battletome. Yeah if you want to play a wight king and black knights, I understand you’re disappointment. But there are a lot of other good choices. Some blood lines have very good command traits,artifacts and ability’s, that a lot of other army’s don’t have!!

and if you ask me, I dont want a overpowered Lumineth style army, which will get nerfed and gets erratat. I want a solid army that’s not trash or under mid tier. You can say what you want but this isn’t a low tier army. It is one of the better   Ones out there. And I would not be surprised if we see them under the top 3 with some lists.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Erdemo86

[Vasshpit]

4 hours ago, JackStreicher said:

I only want the Wight king...

I am curious why they throw that many grave guard at us?

Because they have a surplus of them so they buffed them so they'll be bought up as well as stick a new hero model in a box that is only accessible though said box for awhile. 

The new skellies are here to stay and will eventually make $$$ so they can play the long game with them while buff old surplus that needs moved. 😉

 

Did the same with Ardboyz. 

Tinfoil hat off. 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Vasshpit

[Honk]

5 minutes ago, Vasshpit said:

they have a surplus of them so they buffed them

Tinfoil hat on

sales dropped after reapers got thrown into LoN...

Tinfoil hat off

still an interesting choice of models. But you can also get the SC-FEC for some proxy zombies with vhordrai and vargheists...

still curious how SB will perform, some things sound pretty good, while others sound like hot garbage... our magic got discount neutered.

[Aren73]

Ahh that's not the issue. The book isn't weak. 

That has never been the issue with this book really. 

The problem is it feels boring. The vampire lore is very meh. Vampire Lords are one of the most boring warscrolls. Fell bats are also incredibly boring - now I know they were never a great unit but would it have been so hard to give them one interesting special rule? Retreat and charge isn't it, not on that unit. 

Aside from that there are LOTS of artefacts but plenty of them are meh or just obviously inferior to others. And not loads feel that inspired. 

Also in general the whole faction rules feel like they are a holdover from Legions of Nagash instead of their own thing. This faction isn't LoN - it's different, I think we can all see that now. But they couldn't let go of a lot of the rules which IMO hold it back from being truly unique. It's like this book is in the middle of a transition from LoN into a Vampire book, it's caught mid-transformation. 

 

[InvkrMainr]

31 minutes ago, Erdemo86 said:

I really like what saw so far and I think people are over reacting. Yes there are some trash units like black knights. But there are a lot of good ones too. Look at Prince V, Belladama, Blood Knights to name some. I think this army will see a lot of good lists that we will see in some tournaments too. In Moment everything is just theory, nothing else. Yeah it’s not that over the top overpowered like Lumineth. But it’s even not trash like slaanesh or stormcast or some other army’s.It’s a Solid Battletome. Yeah if you want to play a wight king and black knights, I understand you’re disappointment. But there are a lot of other good choices. Some blood lines have very good command traits,artifacts and ability’s, that a lot of other army’s don’t have!!

and if you ask me, I dont want a overpowered Lumineth style army, which will get nerfed and gets erratat. I want a solid army that’s not trash or under mid tier. You can say what you want but this isn’t a low tier army. It is one of the better   Ones out there. And I would not be surprised if we see them under the top 3 with some lists.

I don't want it op either, I just want Deathrattle to be viable good?

[Sception]

Just now, InvkrMainr said:

I don't want it op either, I just want Deathrattle to be viable good?

grave guard at least are solid, and wight kings, while bad, can be justified as a tax to make them battleline.  There is ongoing debate as to whether skeletons have a legitimate use.  I think at this point we'll have to wait for that to play out in practice before saying which side has the right of it, but at the very least they have defenders.

Black Knights unfortunatly kind of don't.  Shame, really.

[LoonKing98]

Just making sure I am reading this right, but Red Banqueters can use both Vampire Lords on Dragon as well as on foot? Or is it just the ones on foot? Just planning out my purchases, as I like to build around battalions. 

[FeralMulan]

Just now, LoonKing98 said:

Just making sure I am reading this right, but Red Banqueters can use both Vampire Lords on Dragon as well as on foot? Or is it just the ones on foot? Just planning out my purchases, as I like to build around battalions. 

Looking like just on Foot - It isn't bolded, which is usually what signifies a keyword.

Careful with battallions though, might not be around in AOS 3.0

[Aren73]

24 minutes ago, FeralMulan said:

Looking like just on Foot - It isn't bolded, which is usually what signifies a keyword.

Careful with battallions though, might not be around in AOS 3.0

Actually I saw something on the FB group saying this was FAQed and that mount choices are fine for rules like this. Because it's "Vampire Lord" as the main title and "on Zombie Dragon" as the subtitle. 

[Angela]

18 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

Actually I saw something on the FB group saying this was FAQed and that mount choices are fine for rules like this. Because it's "Vampire Lord" as the main title and "on Zombie Dragon" as the subtitle. 

It is from the core rules "If an entry is the title of a unit, any unit with that title can be used (you can ignore sub-headers under the title unless they are included in the entry for the unit)." It's like the Old Blood in the Seraphon Battalion.

[Beliman]

6 hours ago, Aren73 said:

The problem is it feels boring. The vampire lore is very meh. Vampire Lords are one of the most boring warscrolls. Fell bats are also incredibly boring - now I know they were never a great unit but would it have been so hard to give them one interesting special rule? Retreat and charge isn't it, not on that unit. 

I think the same but that's fine. Every battletome has strong and weak points, but Imho, this book is completely fine.

The are some things that I don't like, but that happens in every battletome, so it's not a big deal. AoS 3.0 is around the corner, some problems can be removed just with a new and polished core rules (blood knights, allies, batallions, etc...) and some warscrolls can be improved without too much (wight kings, skeletons, etc...).

[Andalf]

I think Black Knights are going to find a place in a lot of my lists either as 2x5 or 1x10 man.  I’ve been planning around a lot of Vyrkos and Legion of Blood lists which would find them handy; as an arm chair general for now, here’s a few of my thoughts.

They die faster than Wolves.  This does have a bit of tactical flexibility in the sense that they can be used as mini-missiles to do the mortals on the charge even with just one model and then if you land an early raise with Endless Legions you at least have something in the bank to bring back.
 

They go a bit further with the +1A command abilities scattered throughout the book, with a smaller foot print and two melee profiles they are more likely to swing with everything on a charge.  With the native bonuses that I’m set to receive from nearby vampires in the bloodlines I’ve chosen they start to become a bit more compelling in the chaff killing + flank support with minimal resources beyond particular placement of models.

The D3 Mortals on the charge combined with the Bravery debuff from one or two Deathrattle squads is more targetable/useable with two small 5 man cav squads with 12” move than any 4” move horde we have.

 I’m just thinking ideas out that I really do think will work and justify the points tag, I’m thinking this army needs to be used much more creatively to hem your opponents in than it used to with creative healing and use of the gravesites.

Edited May 17, 2021 by Andalf